Elisabeth Denis Photo: Supplied
For six hours, artist and photographer Elisabeth Denis photographed a model in a durational performance piece. Instead of camera clicks or shutter sounds, these were replaced with the sound of bullets firing from a gun. Sharp, abrasive and uncomfortable.
The long durational piece took place at Studio One Toi Tū in Ponsonby, Tamaki Makaurau Auckland yesterday from 3pm to 9pm.
When audiences first enter, you’re asked whether you prefer being a photographer or a model before entering the studio. A square space with white walls and white boards over the windows, it’s a simple set up with one light for the model and Denis with the camera. Throughout the photoshoot, both are constantly moving. The model, dressed in black jeans and a black long-sleeved top continuously changes position, trying different movements, poses and shapes. Denis, as the photographer, moves alongside to capture the best angle.
And with each click, the sound of a bullet being fired from a gun is heard.
The movement is continuous while the camera clicks are inconsistent. After about 15 minutes, I stepped out of the space having had enough of the sound. While it’s not overly loud, it’s hard to imagine enduring this for six hours. You also realise how difficult it would be to keep moving as the model, keeping the ideas fresh and for the photographer, to follow along in sync. It’s both a mental and physical performance.
It’s exactly this that Perfect Shot is exploring - the line between creativity and comfort and the feelings and challenges of vulnerability and exposure that come with being photographed and watched. Having experience behind the camera and posing as a model herself, Denis is aware of how exhausting it can be. The durational performance centres around the limits of the mind and body.
The French-Canadian artist moved to New Zealand seven years ago and initially settled in Waipu before moving to Raglan after seeking more community and being told of the surfing popularity.
This latest work has been inspired by various experiences. Denis was recently part of the film production of Taika Waititi’s Klara and the Sun, filmed in New Zealand. As an extra, she observed the focused and repetitive nature of shooting, sometimes just to get one scene. The process of repositioning, resetting and restarting just to get the perfect shot.
Denis is also taking inspiration from famous Serbian conceptual and performance artist Marina Abramović, whom Dennis saw at the Southbank Centre in London last year. Often exploring the relationship between the audience and the performer, one of Abramović’s most well-known works is Rhythm O in 1974.
In a solo exhibition that lasted 6 hours, she declared herself the object and gave permission for audiences to use props on her as they wished. On a table lay an array of objects ranging from a fruit, shoes and paper to chains, knives and hammers. At first the audience were gentle and passive but as the performance continued, people started to rip her clothes, cut her skin and at one point, a knife was stuck between her legs. It was both shocking and revealing.
Elisabeth Denis has a growing profile both here and internationally.
She performed poetry at the Hamilton Arts Festival and will be performing an immersive and interactive work named Cold-Blooded-Dermatographic-Locution at the Raglan Arts Weekend from 26-28 October.
For the past two years, she’s been an artist in residence at Can Serrat, the oldest international research and production centre in Spain, and has been accepted into its Spring/Summer programme for 2025. Last year she created an academic piece on the gender divide in Kabuki theatre as a contributing writer for Deeper Japan and this year was invited to the Cuban Book Institute during the 32nd Havana International Book Fair.
Elisabeth Denis spoke to Perlina Lau of Culture 101.
